Posts by Locutus of Borg

38

The Underbelly is exposed...........

by AK - Jeff in

jw
friends

what proactive things have you done [or intend to do] to warn others about the cult you have escaped?

the unfortunate fact of life is that we tend to look only at our own personal benefits from leaving the cult if not careful.

or we give up after a failed attempt.

Locutus of Borg

I belong to Toastmasters International. My employer sponsors us in it because it does make for excellent presentaion skills.

My very first speech was entitled "When I was 7 Years Old I was Placed in A Box, I spent 37 Years in That Box, I have Recently Gotten Out". It was about my experience growing up in and getting away from the cult. It was supposed to go 7 to 8 minutes but I went over 16, with no protests. The district President was there ands he hounded me for months to take this speech on the Toastmasters Competition circuit, but I declined because at that tme, 2 years ago, it was too raw and emotional for me to do so. I am seriously considering taking it on the road with Toastmasters.

The District Pres said it was a shoe-in for the regional championship (NY including Rochester, Syracuse, Albany) . .

I used an essay I did at SUNY IT back in '99 for a scholarship for disadvantaged students (didn't win but got an honorable mention, I guess being caucasion, 49 and a full time student, no job, and out of options wasn't what they were looking for :0\ )

Peace and out \/

38

The Underbelly is exposed...........

by AK - Jeff in

jw
friends

what proactive things have you done [or intend to do] to warn others about the cult you have escaped?

the unfortunate fact of life is that we tend to look only at our own personal benefits from leaving the cult if not careful.

or we give up after a failed attempt.

Locutus of Borg

I belong to Toastmasters Int

33

Fun Video of xJW partaking at Memorial

by Namasti in

jw
friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccote1skw8a.

i had fun watching this video.

brenda, who wrote the book, "out of the cocoon.

Locutus of Borg

I wanted to add that after viewing this video, she has zero credibility with me.

Too bad.

33

Fun Video of xJW partaking at Memorial

by Namasti in

jw
friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccote1skw8a.

i had fun watching this video.

brenda, who wrote the book, "out of the cocoon.

Locutus of Borg

jayhawk1 nailed it. When I watched that video I had the exact same thought. I thought she was very juvenile and disrespectful. This is exactly the type of behavior that enables and empowers the persecution complex the JWs have anyway. They point to things like this and set them up as an example of how all apostates and ex JWs act.

She came across as a childish tramp.

She gives apostates and ex JWs a bad odor, I am personally offended.

A much more effective approach would have been to act with restraint, dignity, and seriousness, and to partake of the emblems. She not only disrespected all the JWs in that kingdom hall, but also the Christ himself. That charade was an opportunity for a real witness squandered.

I won't be buying her book, nor will I recommend it.

Peace \/

5

More Recent Events

by RollerDave in

ok, so we covered leaving, regaining my faith, now for some recent events.. .

from disabled housing, where i met my fiancee working as a pca together we weathered the death of my non-witness father, the y2k scare, 9-11, and more all the time doing our best to improve as people and serve wherever we could.. .

she got through college and got her bachelors degree and a job as a contract-worker at 3m; i struggled in physical therapy to relearn how to walk.

Locutus of Borg

Yeah!!! (in my BEST James Hetfield impression)

Locutus of Borg high fives RollerDave!! then spins around and low fives him!!!

Dude, you're a badass. I wish you lived near me . . we are definately on the same wavelength. We could wreak havoc on the local dub environment.

I have GOT to find time to tell some of my story . . . and stories. Finals this week . . then *Maybe* I will have more time . . .

peace \/

2

Spitzer, Non-Profits and the Watchtower

by metatron in

jw
friends

http://www.icnl.org/knowledge/ijnl/vol6iss3/special_6.htm.

this would be wonderful - extending standards of corporate conduct to non-profit corporations.

like the watchtower society - possibly forcing them to publically account for contributions.

Locutus of Borg

metatron . I scimmed your link, I did not read it in depth, but I have one comment . .

. . . I f**king hope so!!

20

Since I left...

by RollerDave in

since i left.... so there i was, a disabled single dad bereft of all he had known or believed for 30 years.. i had moved a good 45 minutes away from the area where the events in my introductory post went down, but was now living in an area where i had resided some ten years earlier and still had a few stale connections with the organization.. i was lonely, depressed, pissed off, and really disgusted with the god i had been shown in my years of unfruitful association.. in my mind, he had made me the way i am, which apparently entailed being unable to meet his 'righteous requirements', and was going to kill me for it.

he had endowed all of us with a natural human nature (apart from our fallen sinful nature,) and now expected us to conquer our every natural impulse or desire, even the healthy ones, to survive the big a.. hold off on marriage or kids, no college, no success, no normalcy... the big a'll get ya if ya don't watch out!.

so i railed against him, defied him to just take me, do anything to show he even existed or had any power at all.. i went around saying 'god is an a$$h*le' and the like, but then i realized something that shook my world..... i was just as much a witness outside the organization as i had been inside!.

Locutus of Borg

RollerDave, great post, thank you.

you have a great style for writing. I enjoyed your post.

I went through alot of what you have been through. I haven't talked to my family still in the lie since I told my father that Samson was the first suicide bomber, and that I could not believe in the god of the old testament that made the violence in middle east today look like a friggin picnic in comparison.

I was lonely, depressed, pissed off, and really disgusted with the God I had been shown in my years of unfruitful association.

I tried to commit "suicide by Cop" in 1981. I would be dead if the Cop did not know me and understood a bit of what I was going through. He had every right to drop me in my tracks.

In my mind, he had made me the way I am, which apparently entailed being unable to meet His 'righteous requirements', and was going to kill me for it.

How much I agonized over the same things. I remember being 16 and convinced I was unsalvageable and had committed the unforgivable sin because I spanked the giant monkey twice in one week . .

I went around saying 'God is an a$$h*le'

I used to go out at night, look to the sky and say f**k you!

I have gotten over much of my anger and moved on. I have one brother, my youngest, who never bought into the lie that I have a pretty good relationship with. I have not talked to my father, or my other two brothers in 7 years. My Mom though, I think she knows it's a BS cult, calls me every week. She's not doing well and at 75 worn out, probably not long for this world.. So much for never dying. If she was Catholic, she'd be a saint. We all have to die.

I left when I was 30 and got a divorce. I went back for a few years in my 40s . . just long enough to confirm my gut feelings . . it was 1996 when I entered a KH for the last time.

I am happy for you that you have found a relationship with a higher power. It was a heartfelt prayer and much anguish such as yours that led me back to the cult in 1991. Atfter that, I have concluded that such things are just certain ratios of chemicals and compounds in the physical brain.

Peace be with you, my brother.

34

We are the other people (long but well formated)

by IP_SEC in

i came across this piece some time back and thought some of you might find it interesting.. .

"we are the other people".

by oberon zell.

Locutus of Borg

WTF . . I guess I was just beside myself or something

how the heck did that happen???

i ?? two times?? wtf?

is dere sumpin funny wit dis forum that no one is tellin me??

34

We are the other people (long but well formated)

by IP_SEC in

i came across this piece some time back and thought some of you might find it interesting.. .

"we are the other people".

by oberon zell.

Locutus of Borg

ip_sec

Holy Crap!! Thats the best and most thought provoking post I have seen here for awhile!! Very, Very Deep. I will be digesting this for a few days. Where did you find this??

Wow . . . that is really stretching my head here . . .I need to take a few steps back and really absorb this.

Serendipitous that I am also listening to "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (the loooong versiona for those of you over 45 . . ) while reading this . . .

Thanks and Peace \/

me

34

We are the other people (long but well formated)

by IP_SEC in

i came across this piece some time back and thought some of you might find it interesting.. .

"we are the other people".

by oberon zell.

Locutus of Borg

i